Typically, pickled cucumbers are oblong vegetables that, for retail sale to consumers, are commonly packed in glass jars as whole pickles or as slices (in short, “pickles” hereafter). The length axes of the pickles are aligned with the length axis of the jar which has an open end covered by a removable lid. Typically, pickles are tightly packed for economy of packaging, and they are surrounded by brine.
In the past, when a typical consumer has wanted to remove a pickle from the open end of the jar lid, she has had to force either fingers or a utensil such as a knife or fork into the jar amongst the pickles, seeking to grab a pickle and pull it lengthwise from the packed mass. When the pickles are closely packed as typically is the case, it is difficult and messy to insert one's fingers or a fork or a knife or tongs into the mass of pickles, and to grasp one sufficiently to pull if from the jar. Friction amongst the close packed pickles makes it difficult to remove any of the pickles. And even when the jar has been partially emptied, stabbing a pickle with a knife or fork usually is problematic because the pickle moves away when contacted by the knife or fork, or slides off the knife or fork as the pickle is being pulled from the jar.
Consumers have coped with the foregoing task for many years. Various inventors have addressed the issue of grasping food stuffs. See for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,602 of Backus, U.S. Pat. No. 2,610,884 of Enerele et al. U.S. Pat. No. 481,691 of Currie et al., U.S. Pat. No. 880,807 of Menkin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 1,202,120 of Sutckel, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,275,504 of Unsinger. It is desirable to have a better means for removing pickles, which has attendant ease of manufacture and cleaning.